Love Stories
by Silver Medals
Summary: Five drabbles; love stories forgotten, buried under arenas and nuclear warfare, hidden by the Capitol, shielded from the eyes of the citizens. -For Shipping Week at Caesar's Palace- This collection is finished; two more drabbles to write this weekend.
1. Rain

She could feel his hand creeping up her cheek, his warm palm against her face, calming her. Gazing into hers, his blue eyes were dark in the dim dusk light. His second hand firm against the back of her neck. In the arena before tonight the world was full of stress and fear for the little girl from District Two. Tonight she's in the arms of an older boy staring into his eyes without thinking of the consequences. If their throats were slit right now she wouldn't care, as long as she dies in his arms.

The rain pours down around the cornucopia, the steady drum beat of a marching band falling just feet around them. The soundtrack to their movie.

"Kiss me," she whispers into his neck coyly.

Cradling her head in his hands, they're kissing in the rain and forgetting the promises they made to kill each other.


	2. Dark

One night they're lying in their bed, hands clasped together. They're staring at each other in the dark, wide grey eyes meeting green eyes at midnight.

"Don't let go," whispers Annie.

"I wouldn't think of it," Finnick replies.

Silence falls over their little underground copse in the nuclear wasteland.

"Finnick?"

"Annie?"

"Do you think I'm crazy?" she says, barely audible.

"Of course not, my darling," he replies reassuringly.

"Oh, Finnick, my handsome tridentarian," she teases in a light, airy voice.

He twirls a lock of red-brown hair around his finger and she's breathing softly into his neck.

"Kiss me," he whispers into her ear. And she obliges. It's the middle of the winter and they're kissing in the dark, lips locking, a sea of oblivion falling away, cares melting away into the smothered shadows.

"I love you, tridentarian."

"I love you too, sugar cube."


	3. Leaves

"Okay, is this it? You don't love me anymore?"

"May, stop-"

"No, I'm not going to stop. You don't love me, so just shut up and listen!" Maysilee shrieks. She acts like it's a valid reason. Haymitch turns away from her and stalks into the woods. Maysilee narrows her eyebrows, glaring at the pathetic dirty-blonde boy. She takes a deep breath in like it's her final breath.

She sprints through the trees, light feet crunching on the bright purple leaves. She pounces like a wild animal onto his shoulders, throwing him to the ground.

* * *

A knife is drawn by a sweaty hand, caked with dried blood, followed by a yell. "Maysilee, what the _hell?_" Haymitch shouts, throwing her back.

And she's snatching his ragged shirt in her hands, pulling him close to her. "What are you doing? May, you're crazy!"

They roll over and she's helpless under him, watching the knife in his hand. "I'm too madly in love with you."

She's snatching locks of his hair in her dirt-caked hands and he's bringing the knife closer to the vein on her neck. "I could never love a crazy girl."

She pulls him close and stares the knife down. She's afraid of nothing and nothing alone. "I could never love a man who wouldn't kiss me."

Then their lips collide. Lips pressed together, he decides to never slit her throat. He's too happy kissing in the leaves.


	4. Together

"Peeta, what are we supposed to do?"

"Katniss," he breathes, tears running down his cheeks.

"No, don't cry, don't do this to me!" she's shouting down the hall at the boy she loves. The carpet is green and the walls are a pale yellow around her. She glances above at the dirt ceiling. A clod of dirt crashes down into the dirt-smeared carpet.

"Katniss," he breathes, wiping away a wet tear.

"Go," she commands, eyes fixed on the ceiling. He looks at her, confused.

"Katniss, I love you," he whispers. A tear falls onto the floor, followed by a crumbling of dirt.

"Go!" And she runs towards him, snatching his hand and pulling him quickly into a room. It's the Leegs' room. They collapse on top of each other on the muddy rug.

It's like a love story, and as the complex crashes down, they're together.


	5. Smitten

**In which a plot twist ensues; final drabble of the collection. (Two more 500-words to come this week) Tied into Chapter Two. Moved to a very mild T for mentions of sex.**

"I've always been smitten with you," he whispers to her in the dark, twirling brown hair around his finger.

"Do me a favor, Finnick," she breathes.

He doesn't have to think about it really, he just knows. And she knows too. They come closer, the space between them diminishing slowly, atom by atom, until their lips meet, and it's a moment they both know is wrong. But it feels so right.

"Is that what you wanted?" Finnick says, caressing her cheek.

And she smiles and whispers into his ear, "Yes," in a breathless voice.

He fumbles with the edge of her shirt for a moment before Johanna pushes him away. "But I thought-" he says despairingly.

"Finnick, I love you, I do, but I don't want to- Finnick, if I have sex with you, I'll be too afraid of losing you. To Annie. To the Capitol." It's not the full story but in the end it isn't a lie; she's terrified of losing him.

He places the back of his hand on her cheek one more time, then lets it fall into his lap. "I'll get the light," Finnick says, a hint of shame in his voice.

But she puts a finger to his lips, stopping him in his tracks. "I love you," Johanna whispers into the dark.

Then their lips touch and again it feels right no matter who he's supposed to love- Annie. And he does. Johanna isn't the girl he's going to spend his life with, and Johanna isn't the girl who's heart he's going to shatter.

Johanna's the girl he's going to fall in love with and Johanna's the girl he's going to leave when they're both ready.

And neither of them are ready for that tonight.

* * *

So that night their lips lock together in the dark.

"This is wrong."

"I don't care."

"I don't either, my sugar cube." And that night, they go under the sheets like Johanna said she wouldn't. She's just smitted.


End file.
